Contents.

CONTENTS .

L EADERS— PAGE . Large v . Small Lodges ... ... ... ¦•¦ ' 75 Freemasonry in Hungary ... ... ... ... ¦•• > 75 Consecration of the Justinian Lodge , No . 26 94 ... ... ... 176 Provincial Grand Chapter of East Lancashire ... ... * , ... 177 Provincial Grand Chapter over the Lower Ward of Lanarkshire ... ... 177 Craft Masonry ... ... •• • •• ¦•• ••• ' 77

M ASONIC NOTESSchool Quarterly Courts ... ... ... ... 170 Agenda Paper of the Boys'School Court ... ... ... ... 17 a Bro . Fenn and Centenary Festival of the United Strength Lodge , No . 23 S ... 179 Correspondence ... ... •¦• ••• ... ¦•• 'So

Reviews ... ... ••• ••¦ ¦ ••• ••¦ ' 8 o Craft Masonry ... ... ... ••• ••• 180 Royal Arch ,.. ... ... ¦¦• ••• ... ' 81 Obituary ... .,. ... ... — ••• ' 83 Masonic and General Tidings ... ... ... ... ... 1 S 2

Large V. Small Lodges.

LARGE V . SMALL LODGES .

In an article which appeared in our columns a few weeks since entitled "An English View of Freemasonry in America , ' we quoted and commented upon certain opinions expressed by

Bro . G . W . SPETH , Secretary of the Quatuor Coronati Lodge , No . 2076 , in a letter addressed some time previously to Bro . WILLIAM H . UPTON , the present reporter on Foreign Correspondence to the Grand Lodge of Washington . Among those

opinions was one in which he took exception to the largeness of many of the lodges which are to be found in many of the American G . L . jurisdictions— "What real comfort can there be , " he asked , '' in a lodge of 200 , 300 , or 400 members ? What possibility of each member knowing , as he should do , all the others ? What

sociability ? " More especially as in America it is the exception rather than the rule for the members of a lodge to sit down and partake of refreshment when the labours of the lodge are ended . It is , as Bro . SPETH very justly remarked , this afterrefreshment which affords the members "the opportunity , which

is kicking during lodge hours , of becoming well acquainted with each other , " so that " each lodge is a little family to itself , and the main object of the Craft—good fellowship—is promoted . "

Those who read this particular article , as well as others which had appeared previously at odd times , will have discovered that in his objections to large lodges Bro . SPETH lias our full sympathy , more particularly on the grounds which he has set forth with so much clearness

and precision . Recently , however , we have received a letter—not intended for publication , but with permission , to make such use of it as we please—from an American brother , iiuw resident in the North of Ireland , who , during a residence u ! seven years in Detroit , Mich ., was made a Mason in a lodge

which meets in that city , and musters 500 members . lie is still a 'Member , and naturally takes the greatest pride in the work at it docs ; and he is of opinion that a lodge which is numeric , l " y strong , possesses many advantages over one that

musters only some 30 or 40 members . His grounds for this "pinion are ( 1 ) , that the members , being more numerous , have ' ss to pay for dues ; ( 2 ) , that they bring in more applications or membershi p , and these applications necessarily bring with em more money ; ( 3 ) , that the more numerous applications

. ' /"' nation have the effect of making the lodge more efficient ln lts floor -work , as meetings have to be held weekly , for the Purpose of conferring the Degrees ; ( 4 ) , that the social features

Pill l ° nCCd UOt suffer " ' ( 5 ) ' tnat it : is '" a position to D' hsh a monthl y bulletin of its own ; that is ,, a record lts mec tings , contributions to Charity , and for Masonic r Poses generall y , particulars of its social gatherings .

Large V. Small Lodges.

past and prospective , & c , & c . ; and ( 6 ) , that it has more money to spend in providing itself with comfortable quarters and suitably furnishing them , and for the charitable and other purposes for which our

braternity has been established on its modem basis . In support of these contentions , he has kindly forwarded for our perusal the February and March numbers of a periodical entitled "The Palestine Bulletin , " devoted to the interests of Palestine

Lodge , No . 357 , F . and A . M ., and published in the City of Detroit , Mich . These numbers of the Bulletin confirm our brother ' s statements . The funds are evidently large . The Treasurer ' s monthly report shows a balance in hand on 3 rd

February of 1280 dollars , after payments amounting to 1028 dollars . From an article showing " What Palestine Lodge and its members have done for the Masonic Temple Association , " we gather that it is credited in the books of the Association with

contributions amounting to 12 , 205 dollars , or more than £ 2440 . Then there is an announcement that on the 17 th February there was to be a meeting for the purpose of conferring the Third Degree on live Fellow Crafts , and that when the ceremony was

over supper would be served in the banquet hall . In another place we read that on a certain day in January , five brethren were passed Fellow Craft , and that afterwards a brother read a very interesting paper on " Astronomy

and Music . From another report we gather that in 18 97 the entertainment . Committee provided a series of entertainments , which included , in addition to the celebration of the 16 th

anniversary of the lodge , a children ' s party , an Faster party , a bicycle f £ te ,. moonlight excursion , bicycle ride , annual picnic , and " Put-in-Bay Excursion . " The March number contains several announcements of a similar character so that our

brother s arguments are to this extent fully borne out . But as regards that much of what he has mentioned as to parties and entertainments , we take the liberty of pointing out that this is not the kind of sociability which Bro . SPETH and we had in

view in our objections to large lodges . We laid our chief stress on the fact that in these large , and , as we consider them , unwieldly lodges—consisting , as our Correspondent ' s Palestine Lodge does , of 500 members—it is impossible for each

member to become acquainted with all the rest . A small body of some 30 or 40 members can , as Bro . SPETH so nicely puts it , " become a little family to itself , " but this cannot be the

case with a lodge of 500 members . Moreover , it is not unreasonable that when a man has become a Mason and obtained some insight into the constitution of our lodges he should aspire to become W . M . In a small lodge this is possible in the case

of every member ; in that of a 500 lodge it is out of the question except to the very few . We thank our correspondent for his interesting letter and its accompanying Bulletins . He has shown us a good deal of the inner working of a big American lodge , but he has not convinced us of the erroneousness of our opinions .

Freemasonry In Hungary.

FREEMASONRY IN HUNGARY .

There appeared in our issue of the 12 th February last an article bearing the above title , in which we gave some particulars about Freemasonry in Hungary , mentioning , among other things , that the Grand Lodges of the United Kingdom were in friendly communication with the Symbolic Grand Lodge of that country ; that the latter had some 40 lodges , with an aggregate member-